This is the story of a girl named Anastasie Silvestre Hood, but you would know her as Little Red Riding Hood because of the bright scarlet colored cloak she wore. She was born January 3, 1778 in a log cabin on the edge of the werewolf territory that was named Territoire Loup-Garou. Her home was very close to a werewolf tribe known as the Argentum Lunae Lecem, or “Silver Moonlight.” Her father and the other villagers hated the werewolves, and the werewolves felt the same about the villagers. The villagers grew wolf’s bane to ward off and kill werewolves. In turn, the werewolves attacked anyone who entered the woods, except for two people: Luna, Red’s mother, and Red herself.
One day, Luna was sent to her mother’s cabin deep in the woods. She carried a basket of monthly provisions for her grandmother and extra clothes. Her grandmother could not leave her cabin because she was sick and could not defend herself, so Luna was going to stay with her until she recovered. Luna was expected to be back in a month at most. It has been 13 weeks and five days since she left.
“Father?” Red whispered. It was early in the morning, barely past dawn.
“Yes, Red?” A broken, cracked voice croaked from the shadows in the corner of the room after a moment’s pause.
“I’m going into the woods to find Mother.”
“Red-” The same voice started, but was hastily interrupted.
“Maybe she’s not dead. Maybe… Maybe Grandmother was more ill than we thought. What if Mother got sick, and Grandmother made her stay until she got better! You can’t just give up on her like this!” Red desperately exclaimed.
“….Fine. If you really want to go, you can. Take your bow and make sure your quiver is full. Keep your knives tucked in your boots. Leave once the sun is fully risen and do not stray from the path.”
Red smiled. “Yes, Father,” she responded, a note of victory evident in her voice.
Red grabbed her scarlet cloak, her bow made of out silver birches and the quiver full of ivory arrows dipped in wolf’s bane powder. She snatched her worn brown satchel off its hook and the basket she had packed for her grandmother, as well as her mother’s favorite necklace that she hadn’t brought for some unknown reason. Red had decided to give it to her when she saw her at Grandmother’s.
“That is, IF you see her. IF she’s not dead and Father isn’t right. Which he usually is. IF-” Red violently shook her head, as if to chase the thoughts out.
“Father is not right. He can’t be. Father is wrong, Father is wrong; Father is wrong…” she repeated like in an almost trancelike way. Eventually, Red calmed down and relaxed. As she tugged on her last boot, she turned around to give their cabin one last look.
“Last look?” she thought to herself. “It’s not a last look. I’ll be back by the end of the week.”
Despite the fact, she spent much more time standing in the doorway and simply drinking in the small details of the cabin than she would’ve if she was just going to visit Marius or Lea. The cabin was very small, with a dining room that was large enough to fit a table barely big enough for three people, two chairs, a stool, one spice cabinet and a small stove for making soup and baking breads and cooking the meats that hung in the attic. It had a small “bedroom” that she shared with her mother and father. It was really a small room with three small bedrolls, a dresser, and a cracked mirror. Instead of a door, there was a tattered blanket. Next to the “door” there was a creaky old ladder that led into the tiny attic where her mother and Red hung vegetables, spices, herbs, and meat to dry and to cook later. Directly behind the house there was the outhouse, the stable for their goat and chickens, and the small shack for Red’s wolf she found behind their house.
Red whistled softly, “Faolan!” Red’s wolf comes padding up to her and nuzzles her hand. Faolan is a little speckled silvery grey wolf with icy blue eyes. Faolan was the most ‘realistic’ name choice, according to Red’s mother, considering Faolan actually means ‘little wolf’. Faolan only reaches up to Red’s chest and is about six feet long. Since Faolan’s breed is usually six or seven feet tall, Faolan is small even for a female.
Faolan always seems to know exactly what Red needs or is going to do, so she turns and lets out a short bark to acknowledge Red’s father, and then pads towards the entrance of the forest. Red feels a sudden urge to skip towards the forest, but considering the fact that she is 16, she settles for a goofy grin and walks quickly to catch up with Faolan, who is waiting for her.
The moment Red enters the forest, everything changes. The shadows seem larger, but in a way, comforting or soft. The smell of crushed pine needles and sage hangs thickly in the air, so thickly you could cut it with a knife. It smells sweet, yet not overpowering, oddly enough. Sunlight slices through the canopy wherever it can get through in a valiant attempt to reach the light-starved plants on the forest floor. Or, you’d think they were light-starved, but the plants on the forest floor are all ferns and other grasses and mushrooms. The flowers grow up on trees and branches near the canopy. The farther and harder you look, the more surprising bursts of color you can see. Light blues, lavenders, sunset orange, maroon, rose, magenta, raven purple, midnight blue, every color you could imagine. Everyone else sees it as a place devoid of life, just shadows and werewolves, but in reality, this forest practically glows.
Red eagerly peered into the silky shadows and was greeted by a pair of vibrant, pulsing emerald eyes. Different shades of greens came from the silver ring around the pupil until they disappeared at the edge of the iris. Forest green, kiwi, lime, kelly green, evergreen, sea green, every shade of green imaginable.
“Hello,” Red whispered a little breathlessly, in awe by the pulsating eyes in front of her.
“Hi.” A tall boy slipped out of the shadows. He was about five inches taller than Red, around 5’11” and had dark chocolate hair that flopped down into his face, along with a scattering of freckles all over his forehead, cheeks and nose. He was pale, but not terribly so, and when he smiled, you could see four sharp canine teeth. Extra sharp canine teeth…
“Are you a werewolf?” Red blurted, then blushed and smacked a hand over her mouth. “Sorry, sorry!” she exclaimed, after seeing his look of surprise. ” ‘Spose I didn’t think that one through…”
“It’s fine, it’s just most people can’t tell at a glance. Werewolves can, though….,” he trailed off, eyeing her pensively.
“I’m not a werewolf! I mean, I think I’d know if I were a werewolf!” Red said indignantly. “…Wouldn’t I know?” she added a little uncertainly.
“Well, it depends. Some werewolves don’t change until they’re 18. Some change when they’re young. The unlucky ones change less than an hour after their birth. The parents of the baby usually think the wolf ate their kid somehow and kill the wolf. If a werewolf dies in wolf shape, he shifts back into his human shape directly after he’s dead. It drives most parents insane with guilt and fear of their spouse being a werewolf- or even worse, their being a werewolf,” he states nonchalantly, as if parents killing their own -albeit werewolf- kids is perfectly normal.
Red stares at him. She opens her mouth in shock, and then closes it as he begins talking again.
“Anyways, I’m Zacharie Wolfe. I thought you were a werewolf because of your eyes. They’re a reddish brown with silver and red flecks and a silver ring around the pupil. Sometimes, like now, they change from reddish brown to greenish brown with green and silver flecks with a silver ring around the pupil,” he said with a grin.
“Oh,” Red said in a small voice. She continued, “Do humans ever have a silver ring around the pupil?”
His smile got bigger, “Nope. That means either your father or mother is a werewolf, and you inherited the werewolf from them.”
She frowned slightly and cocked her head, “How could a werewolf live with villagers without us noticing?”
“We do it all the time. We control the change. We shift whenever we want to, but we like people to think we only change on the full moon. Anyways, you never told me your name.”
“Anastasie Silvestre Hood. Everyone calls me Red or Riding Hood.”
Zacharie smiled slightly. “Alright, Miss Hood.” His smile turned into a smirk when he saw her frown slightly. “I’m going to assume you know your name means Reincarnation Wild Hood, right? Werewolves always put some meaning behind their kids’ names, so that probably means you can reincarnate like me. My middle name is Rene. You were also probably born in the woods, or as the villagers say, ‘the wild’.”
Red huffed and turned and stomped towards her grandmother’s house.
“Wait! Where are you going?” Zacharie called out.
“First, Mr. Wolfe, I’m not supposed to talk to strangers. Second, I need to get to my grandmother’s house before dark,” Red shot back, sounding a little miffed.
“First of all, we’re not strangers. You know my name! My full name! Second, I’m going to walk with you because if you’re talking about the house I think you’re talking about, the only one in this forest, you will never make it there by dark. So, I will be your personal bodyguard. You’re welcome.” Zacharie did a little mock bow and grinned at Red. She couldn’t help smile back.
“Yea-no.”
“Yes.”
“Definitely not.”
“Definitely yes.”
“That doesn’t even make sense!”
“So, yes?”
“No! I don’t even know you!”
Zacharie sighed. “We’ve already been over this. You know my name and face. You know me. Nothing you say will make me not walk with you. So…. there.”
Red threw up her hands in exasperation and defeat and said, “You sound like some whiny little kid.”
He grinned sadistically. “I can come with you.”
Red gave him a blank look and sighed dramatically, “Fine….”
“Yeees!” Zacharie did a little victory dance that involved fist-pumping and cartwheels.
“But-
“But? But what?!?”
“You can only come if you call me Red or Little Red. NOT MISS HOOD.”
Silence…
“Fiiiiinee…. but only because I want to.”
“You have the maturity of a five-year-old,” Red said with a laugh. “Alright, let’s get going.”
Zacharie and Red started walking. They entered the official Territoire Loup-Garou, and Zacharie assured her that she was indeed a werewolf, and she was probably an unofficial member of the tribe. They walked for fifteen or sixteen miles after they entered the Territoire Loup-Garou before Zacharie stopped her.
“We should probably go stay with the pack for the rest of the night and then continue walking in the morning.”
“The pack? As in the werewolf pack? Your werewolf pack?” Zacharie could probably hear the note of fear in her voice. Honestly, it couldn’t have been more obvious if Red had been trying.
“Don’t worry. You’re just an unofficial member of the pack. The other wolves just don’t know Luna had a kid. There used to be some other Hoods in the pack, but there was an…. accident.” Zacharie looked rather uncomfortable.
“Accident…?” Red echoed a little fearfully. Had someone killed her family?
Alright, if I’m starting to think people would murder my family in some tragic ‘accident,’ now would probably be a good time to get some sleep. Pronto.
“How far ahead is the clan?”
“Not far. We just have to go through a clearing over there,” Zacharie pointed to his left- into the woods ” and walk for-
“NO! I mean, no, I can’t. My father said I had to stay on the trail at all times.”
“It’s not far- Wait… Have you ever been into the woods?”
“Well, no, but I went off the trail once when I was inside the Territoire Loup-Garou and I felt kinda sick and dizzy.”
“You’re a forêt loup! You only shift into a wolf after you’ve been inside the Territoire Loup-Garou and then you can shift whenever you want!”
“Good?”
“Your father probably knew your mother was a werewolf- or he at least knew you were- and he made sure you stayed on the trail because you won’t shift until you’ve been inside the Territoire Loup-Garou!” Zacharie grabbed Red’s hand and pulled her inside the woods. “Come on! It’s been awhile since we’ve seen a Hood!”
Zacharie pulled her farther inside the woods until Red yelped.
“Aaaa!” A tingling sensation raced up her spine and danced through her body. It didn’t hurt as much as tickle. She convulsed and felt herself get lighter…. Literally. Red was turning into moonlight that was taking the shape of a wolf. Red-the-Wolf lay panting after her transformation on a messy bed of pine needles. She saw Zacharie shift into a dark grey wolf with forest green hairs sprinkled like freckles all over his fur. He buried his muzzle in her fur. He spoke- growled –
“Red? Are you alright?”
She nodded then felt something sniffing her back exposed belly.
“Red? Red, are you alright?” Something was talking to her a soft, comforting voice. She started when she saw Faolan next to her, nosing her to her feet and supporting her until the world stopped swirling around. Red peered into a puddle and saw a she-wolf staring back at her, a little bigger than Faolan. The wolf had ruffled silver fur with swirling red designs, a pure silver underbelly, rust red ears, and a grey and red muzzle.
Red’s eyes widened slightly, and she turned her head to the left and the right, then spun in a circle, craning her neck to look at the curling red designs covering her back. She heard a snorting laughter come from behind her, and she completed her circle to see Zacharie laughing at her.
“What?” she growled. If looks could kill…
“It’s your reaction! Most people when they turn start attacking everything around them until they gain control of their shifts, but you just acted…. Human. You didn’t try and kill anyone.”
“What, were you expecting me to become a psychopathic wolf?” Red drawled sarcastically. “Anyways, I am definitely freaking out.” It was true. Red’s mind was in a state of utter turmoil. All of her thoughts revolved around I am a wolf’s and This is not possible’s and “I think I’ll go attack something now’s
“What will Mother think?” Her blood ran cold at this. What would Mother and Father do when they found out?
Zacharie nudged her side. “Red? Helllloooooo? Responding would be much appreciated. Red!”
“Huh?” Red jolted, startled out of her thoughts.
“Come on, the clan is down the river.” Zacharie nodded towards the small stream.
“River? THAT is not a… oh…”
Red stared at the massive, roaring, churning body of water. The river –more like a horizontal waterfall– was at least a mile wide. It was the meeting point of four or five regular rivers that, altogether, made a very angry sounding river. This river was seriously peeved about something. Or maybe it was late to some monster river party.
“RED!!” something barked right into both of her ears. When she looked, Zacharie was standing on her right-hand side, looking miffed about being forgotten again and Faolan to her right with a look of serious amusement on her face.
“You need to stop zoning out,” Zacharie whined. “It’s really annoying.”
“Sorry, Zachie, but sometimes I need to socialize with mature adults. Even if it’s in my mind,” Red smirked as shock, offence, entertainment, and anger all play across Zacharie’s – wolf – face.
“…Did you just call me Zachie?!”
Red’s smirk got larger; at least, as large as it could what with her being a wolf and all. “Yes. Does that bother you, Mr. Wolfe?” Red’s play at innocence only infuriated Zacharie more.
“Let’s get to the camp,” he managed to grind out.
“What, that desperate to get me off your back?”
Zacharie didn’t respond.
After a few more minutes of walking along the river, some boulders stood out against the dark blue or black river. Zacharie eagerly bounded across the boulders, and Red followed more cautiously, afraid of losing her step.
When she landed on the riverbank, she walked past a curtain of dark green moss that Zacharie held open for Red with his muzzle. She lifted her eyes from the gorgeous nightshade flower and gasped.
The clan was huge. The boulders had the outlines of small doors, and every now and then they would slide to the left or right, and a wolf might walk out. Sometimes a human would. Eventually, the wolves decided to investigate and came up to her, smiling but still wary. Once she shifted back out of wolf form, they must have recognized something because they approached her laughing and telling jokes. They all shook her hand and asked how her mother was and when she found out she could shift and when she met Zacharie. The werewolves were just so friendly it was hard not to like them, and she just couldn’t see why the villagers didn’t like them. The wolves sniffed her and nuzzled her thighs.
Zacharie whispered in my ear, “I told you they would like you. The Hood family was known for being the only werewolves to have family with both werewolves and humans and be friends with all of them.”
Red smiled.
After Red had met the clan, she went with Zacharie to ‘his boulder.’ Apparently, everyone got their own underground boulder house, and Red was staying with Zacharie. He had already explained that his mother died, and after her death, his father went rogue and joined some other stray werewolves. His boulder home was about the size of Red’s own house, so she was very comfortable. It had woven blankets for doors –familiar- small stove and cabinet –familiar- and… only one bed. Red’s heart stopped beating altogether until she saw the second bed tucked into the corner. Her heart started beating as it should.
Zacharie and Red both went to bed as wolves- according to Zacharie, it helps you get used to shifting, and most werewolves like to sleep as wolves anyways. Which explains why the six or seven blankets he owned were used as doors or rugs.
The next morning, Zacharie walked her to her grandmother’s house which was –suspiciously- less than a mile away.
“So, what, you didn’t think that I couldn’t walk another half-mile last night?” Red raised her eyebrow at Zacharie.
Zacharie stuttered out, “Well- uh- I thought you would maybe- um- want to see the clan?”
She laughed, “What a lovely shade of red you are! I was just joking. It was cool to see the clan. I honestly thought they would rip out my throat at first sight and/or smell. They didn’t even glance at me for about five minutes!”
“Nah, they noticed you. They just wanted to give you time to let it sink in. Also, all of them approaching you immediately might have freaked you out. Once they knew you were a Hood, though, they just couldn’t help themselves. You know, the chief congratulated me on finding the last Hood.”
“The last Hood?”
“Your father isn’t really a Hood, and your mother disappeared. She was the last werewolf Hood member we had…,” he said, the last part a little glumly.
Red frowned slightly, her confusion starting to show. “But… she went into the woods to visit my grandmother over three months ago. That’s why I’m here. To find her.”
Zacharie was about to respond, but as got to the bend in the trail to Grandmother’s house, he stopped her. “Run.”
Four things happened at once-
1. Red saw her mother and grandmother dead, and the cabin covered in blood and half-burnt.
2. She saw a small, haggard pack of wolves and one tall man that bore a strange resemblance to Zacharie.
3. Zacharie pushed her away from the cabin and shifted.
4. Red ran.
Her breath came out in gasps as she ran away from the man. She would shift, but she knew it would take too long. Shouts and howls came from the hollow where Grandmother’s cabin used to be. Father was right. He was right was on loop in her head as a large black and grey wolf with yellow eyes chased her. Yellow eyes that stared into her red and brown ones as he pinned her against a tree as a human. A flaring pain in her side, near her lungs.
Someone whispering “Good-night, Red.” in an insane voice. Sliding down the tree–Her vision blurring—Zacharie running in—grabbing her hand—asking what happened—“Wolfe…” she choked out. Zacharie’s eyes flashing as he realized what his insane father had done. Axe men running in. Seeing the bloody knife a werewolf –Zacharie- had just pulled out of her side. They grabbed Zacharie and pulled him to his feet as he struggled. Not hearing Red’s weak cries of “It wasn’t him! Please, he’s my friend!” One of them grabbed his axe. Red’s world spun into darkness.
———————————————————————————————————–
Beautiful red and brown eyes flashed open. I stared around me, confused. I leaned over and looked into a small puddle. I gasped. I was gorgeous. I had long, brown hair with red strands. My face was pale, but not unhealthily so. My eyes had a silver ring around the pupil, and the rest of the iris was a reddish brown color with silver flecks. I had freckles and I was wearing a long, scarlet cloak. I saw in the bottom corner an embroidered name- ‘Anastasie Silvestre Hood’ and ‘Little Red Riding Hood.’
I heard rustling leaves and peered into the shadows and was met with a pair of mesmerizing green eyes. They were every shade of green imaginable. I smiled at them. I received a toothy smile in return as Zacharie Wolfe stepped out of the deep shadows with an aloof, “I told you so.”
My name is Anastasie Silvestre Hood. You would know me as Little Red Riding Hood because of the bright scarlet cloak I wear. You may think you know my story, but you don’t. Zacharie and I just decided to tell the Brothers Grimm a more ‘kid-appropriate’ version.
The End